Our Transit History section just scratches the surface of what we have in The Buzzer archives, which includes eight issues of the Vancouver Regional Rapid Transit Project Quarterly.

The 12-page Winter 1986 edition, released a month after SkyTrain’s opening, contained a myriad of photos and stories touting the launch of Vancouver’s first rapid transit system. Perhaps, the most interesting tidbit is the existence of a time capsule.

Mhmm, that’s right! A stainless steel time capsule, sealed by then-B.C. premier Bill Bennett, was buried at New Westminster Station. It will be opened in 2085—a hundred years after SkyTrain opened.

Luckily, we won’t have to wait until 2085 to find out what’s inside!

According to quarterly, it includes the names of the 5,000 people that built SkyTrain and a letter from Bennett to the British Columbians that will open the capsule. He writes,

[The inauguration of SkyTrain is] a milestone as important as the arrival in 1885 of the first transcontinental passenger train in British Columbia. The documents which accompany this letter in the time capsule are the essential records relating to the design and construction of SkyTrain and represent the creative efforts of thousands of British Columbian and Canadian architects, engineers, construction workers, planners-and designers. Together, we have shown the world what imagination and determination can achieve.

Also inside:

…the opening day commemorative editions of the Vancouver Sun and Province, which contained special SkyTrain supplements, a copy of the rapid transit film, Going to Town, a filmed message from Grace M. McCarthy, minister responsible for the project, one of the invitations to the SkyTrain opening ceremonies, and a copy of each of the seven quarterly reports of the Rapid Transit Project.

Also, luckily, we have a copy of Going to Town uploaded to our YouTube account! Watch it here.